I still kick myself that I didn't buy 100 WM-60AY's (instead of just 10). Their noise rating is not quite as good as a WM-61A but they have a much flatter freq response I've never bothered with calibration.

Ah well such is life. I'm sure there will be another worthy replacement that will crop up.

Tony.

__________________
Any intelligence I may appear to have is purely artificial!Some of my photos

I still kick myself that I didn't buy 100 WM-60AY's (instead of just 10). Ah well such is life. I'm sure there will be another worthy replacement that will crop up.

No worries....there are many retailers in europe who still have these in stock! Just do a google search & you'll see. Btw, A japanse source informs me that according to one j.retailer, panasonic will be supplying these to the local market for a while. So I've ordered 100 pieces through him! Just don't buy on the e-bay from those far eastern sellers...these are anything but WM61As!

I got my capsules as well as the two replacements, and a few cheapies from Electronic Goldmine. Got too many other projects going to try them out at the moment. I gotta keep 'em separate as they look identical and are all the same size, slightly under 1/4 inch diameter.

__________________
"The human mind is so constituted that it colours with its own previous conceptions any new notion that presents itself for acceptance." - J. Wilhelm. (But I still think mine sounds better than yours.)

Ooops....didn't notice the prvious post! Anyway I too came across this company called JLI Electronics Inc. that is selling a 6mm electret capsule at $2.16a piece wait for it....with the part No; JLI-61A! The specs too are uncanningly similar to that of Panasonic WM61A!

I may buy a few & try them out. If any of you guys have tried these, then it would be great to hear how good these really are!

Is this a good thread to engage in some discussion about interpreting my results obtained with 3-4 attempts to modify, then outboard, an ECM capsule in a digital camera to improve the video's audio?

I'm on version 2.2 or maybe 2.3 now (lost track). There is either further improvement to be made, or I'm wasting my time...

I was almost pleased with it yesterday, considering I made a recording outdoors of some street musicians on a very windy day by a busy intersection...challenging conditions, but that's the purpose of the project...some indoors, some outdoors. Both environments offer challenges...indoors typically having drums and amplified bass that overload the camera.

We actually have two cameras that are in the same seris and I hope similar, but comparing the modified and unmodified recording adds another level of frustration.

I found a service manual for a 3rd model online and base my assumptions on the camera circuitry on this...better than nothing.

Maybe I'll wait before dumping more details here. I hope it's interesting to someone. I tried two mods on the original ECM capsule, then let it hang out of the camera for fear the camera wouldn't survive a third surgery, then replaced the ECM, then made a couple bias changes, then a best guess circuit analysis to up the size of the coupling/dc-blocking capacitor. That's where I'm at today, comparing the unmodified camera one model down the family tree and the modified bigger brother model. I'd be happy to share the findings, pitfalls, mistakes made, etc. because it has been interesting , to me, at least. This camera is probably not going to be able to travel in an airport anymore, however... ;O(

Probably not the best thread for a discussion of camera mics and mods. A limiting factor with camera mods may be the quality of the ADC. It's unfortunately very common for digital recorders to fail to provide a clean power supply for the ADC analog stuff, so that recordings are marred by low-level whines and glitches picked up from the power supply. (Zoom H4N review here: Zoom H4n Review)